Great Big Sea - Donkey Riding Lyrics
[Chorus:]
Way hey and away we go
Donkey riding, donkey riding
Way hey and away we go
Was you ever in Quebec
Launchin' timber on the deck?
Where ya break yer bleedin' neck
Ridin' on a donkey!
[Chorus]
Was you ever 'round Cape Horn
Where the weather's never warm?
Ridin' on a donkey.
[Chorus]
Was you ever in Miramichi
Where ye tie up to a tree,
An' the girls sit on yer knee?
Ridin' on a donkey
[Chorus]
Was you ever in Fortune Bay
See the girls all shout, "Hooray!"?
"Here comes dad with ten weeks pay
Riding on a donkey."
[Chorus]
Was you ever in London-town
See the King he does come down?
See the King in his golden crown
Riding on a donkey
[Chorus]
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Rand Lyrics
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Great Big Sea Donkey Riding Comments
Great big sea can you make a Donkey Riding video without Lyrics
This is my Faverite song
1:50 could this have been recorded in Fredericton by any chance. Lol.
Woke up with this in my head today, asked my husband if he remembered it and he looked at me like I was mad. Learned this aged about 6 , never forgot it and still love it 50 years on .
Old sea shanty
this is like bonnie heiland laddie
Emilia Clarke .......😍😘
Hate the cover love the song
Emilia Clark brought me here
Which show is this from? There used to be a video but I can't find it now.
The question still remains, what is the donkey, is it a boat, is it a logging machine. I heard the donkey is a tow motor, and the “king” is a dock supervisor. Also then the girls on his knee is the donkey his dick, so many questions
I am learning this song in my theory class Edit: #Pearsonlife
This is my favorite Irish song because of two reasons.
(1) It makes me stomp and clap
(2) My family does foster care so we have a big van. Me and my dad are Irish fans and we always play Great Big Sea. When this song turns on i start laughing because the van acts like a donkey.
I live in Vancouver,our friend bought this Cd back in the day and left it here,and said everytime you guys play this im here,lol!!true dat is!!
Miramichier over here and I can confirm that I have never been tied up to a tree, nor have the girls ever sat on my knee
Maybe one day , who knows
I used to sing this song in Elementary and I always found it when they said have you ever been in Quebec since I live in Montreal which is a city in Quebec but they may also be referring to Quebec City
we are playing this in my band class lol i love it so much
MY BEST BUD PLAYED THIS ON ME WEDDING DAY HAHA! Love ya Randy
Nice version
Are music teacher showed us this to day and this is all I can think about
I would really love to hear Shrek and Gordon Ramsay doing a duet of this song!
What's the difference between Frederickton and London Town?
They're not talking about the animal donkey
They sound Scottish
Skip to 0:32
I learned this song in music class........
No I’m obsessed...
I blame my teacher 😑
Man you fucked these lyrics up something serious.
FREDERICTON not London-Town
i love this song
I'm not a Newfie, but I sing this to my kid from time to time.
I Love the fact Miramichi is in this song....and YES WE WILL SIT ON YOUR KNEE 💜💜💜💜💜💜
I know Great Big Sea is a Canadian band and all, but this band is where Canadians and Irish come together with great music!
Dom The Domino A-FUCKING-MEN lol
this is a newfoundland band which is in Canada but were not Irish its just an accent
@Walsh Boy do I have some news for you, in 1949 Newfoundland became a province in Canada, and where as GBS is a Newfi band, all east coast provinces identify with the song and hold it close to them.
Green skull brought me here.
Some lyrics are wrong in every video almost as if on purpose?
I remember singing this in primary school (UK)
I have to sing this but the words are slightly different and the rhythm is also slightly different.
And in Santorini, saw people rode donkeys. listen to this song ~ LMAO
The donkey is a forklift, and the golden crown coming down is the foreman showing up on the dock with his yellow protection hat...I blew my teacher grade 5 away when I figured that out when I was only 11 years old.
Unfortunately, you are incorrect. A "Steam donkey" is a type of boiler, and this song dates back to 1857. But it's an excellent image.
I think you both are kind off a donkey is slang for a barge or freight vessel
It very well could be a literal donkey, because this song was a work shanty for logging crews i the late 1800s and in rural areas. They used the animal even tho the “donkey” engine was invented
And then the whole bus clapped
this is the worst version of this beautiful sea shantie
SO PROUD TO BE A NB`ER....spisificly a MIRAMIcHIER (and yes, we`ii sit on yer knee lol)
Theresa From the Miramichi you can sit on my knee
I don't think I'd want to be on whatever crew's working the capstan to this song.
These lyrics suck I learnt something else not helpful for exams
I like that Fredericton was interpreted as London-Town... haha
That's because the original lyrics do say London-town. I assume this version of the song was recorded in Fredericton, Moncton, or Saint John somewhere thats near Fredericton.
Call 22315535342
from sea to sea
Why this song has such a meaning to me I will most likely never know but I stomp my feet and clap my hands regardless.
I'm the same
23332323333485
Dave duly
This is my Irish wife's very favorite song of all time... I was beginning to wonder if she was making the song up. Now I know...
...still don't get the donkey-riding - sailing around the world lyrics...
It's not a literal donkey, it's generally thought to be a reference to a "steam donkey" a type of early steam engine. They were used in a lot of ways on ships like loading and unloading cargo, helping to raise the sails or power pumps.
I only knew the version by Fiddlers Green but this is also very nice! :)
Didn't know FIddler's Green did this!
@Anton Kotelyanskii the song has a different name, "donkey riding" :)
I hear this song by Assassins creed rouge and i love Canada :)
TKS....We love you too :p
Kirby DreamLand Yes We Do Love Ya Too
it's been three years since I've heard this song and it still sounds great
This song is from my childhood! It's still amazing
+Shaker Of words good god you're old. it is from the mid 1800s...
I'm 2245678976557521356 and a half to be exact
The lyrics are wrong...
Do you really care?
+peterhobo your blind they are not wrong dumbass
+Jordyn Jones go to the final verse
probably a rare cultural overlap here, but as a great big sea fan and a video gamer, there's a sea shanty version of this in Assassin's Creed Rogue, where late 1700s Newfoundland is an in-game location - you can have the crew of your ship sing this as you pull your ship into St. John's =D
The EAST
In 1700 Canada didn't even exist.
@Shane Armstrong Yeah Newfoundland would've been it's own country until the 40's (a part of the empire still I believe)
Thats why i am here :))
omg yes! i love these live versions :)
Who Thinks At The Start Of The Song It Almost Sounds Like The Beat Of Angel Of The CenterFold
I hope they get back together.
I sang this at Girl Scout camp
Oh man :D I love that came from my province
theirs some people id like to see in newfoundland they wouldn't survive unless they went to town
fredericton not london-town
They did that on purpose :D
@Chelsea Furlotte This live version was probably recorded in Fredericton.
Awful version.
OMG eons ago we learned to sing this in school as well as 'I'se the By', stays in your psyche, particularly if you have Irish blood... or Newfie blood!
SaltyLion
Daenerys targaryen
superkiller886 Mendenhall i'm here too for emilia 😂
lol me thou 😂😂😂
My Dad used to sing this to me when I was a wee lad!
Aie Lad you were a lucky boy
Emilia Clarke
Lol it was a nice episode
Tiago Miranda ye 😂
I'm Canadian and we sang this song in elementary school
Theresa From the Miramichi we sang it in elementary school in Alberta.
Saskatchewan elementary
I'm Welsh and we learned it too, and I still love it
Corvo Attano From the US. Me too.
Corvo Attano 63years never for got it!!!
NB ? New Brunswick ? They are from Newfoundland
he wrote london-town instead of fredericton
the track is from the show in fredericton , . the actual lyrics are london town
@Harley Peters yup, its all about working that donkey. no sexual innuendos at all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_donkey
I don't know if anyone has noticed this yet but this song is about sex,
and if you say im wrong just think about all the innuendos like cape horn,
sounds like gay porn
those are towns
In the traditional song "Donkey Riding," a donkey is not an equine, it's an engine: a large winch used on sailing ships to pull chains aboard, primarily on the East Coast of Canada. Great Big Sea hails from Newfoundland and uses traditional as well as electric instruments in their performances.
"Donkey riding" is an old Canadian maritime term, once frequently used throughout Atlantic Canada and the Northeastern US, to describe working with an old steam engine(a "steam donkey"). The song is about a hundred years old, long before anyone was making gay porn, never mind singing about it.
Sounds like you just have gay porn on the brain. This is the wrong website for that.
says the guy who's name is goobathin
@Nicholas Castellani HAHA you are so fucking gay.
I curse the Quebec goverment
Miramichi, REPRESENT! :3
Miramichi!!
Sang this 60 years ago at school, classroom harmonising they called it. didn't sound that bad. I have always remembered it.
Vintagebeef represent
So amazing...so the bootstrappers in Disneyland converted this song to Flying on the Dutchman?? Or is it viceversa...wow.
This was the first song I ever heard
In answer to John Mack, I've written a version of this which is about riding four legged beasts.
i wonder where this concert was cause i live about 2 hours out of miramichi lol
what he is to poor to afford a horse
I've loved this song since I was like 3!!! <3 Great Big Sea!!!
Same. Its called two Canadian folk songs.
I do this song in band
we are doing this song in band and I thought it was lame till I heard this.
raymond diparahardja what is your school's name
My school's version is way different
I don't know how I should feel about this...
They say Quebec like we say it in french. Not Kwebek. Love these guys.
lol my trumpet book is playing it so fast but only a short part of it rofl (beggining brass rofl)
Yeah he got somthing against New Bruswickers lol
the album version says london town, its because its a live version they change some of the lyrics lol
I think this is such an amazing outage of the. Any. Very catchy
It's a winch, basically. >_> But no, donkey refers more to the ship with the winch than the winch in this song, I reckon.
@SliC3oFicE Damn right!
How come everyone in the comments write "Fredricton"? It's "Fredericton".
i wonder how many folks think he is talkin bout a four legged beast (donkey) ??? when he is actually talkin bout an industrial tool called a donkey
Was you ever in pei
Where all the gals catch your eye
All the pubs never dry
Riding on a donkey
Can't forget bout the sandbar